The lush vocals and minimal orchestration of Julia Holter's music has graced albums dedicated to such high-minded concepts as Greek mythology and French New Wave films. Her latest release is no different, taking its narrative thrust from Gigi, the 1958 film musical about a teenage girl in turn-of-the-century Paris, raised to be a courtesan to wealthy men but longing for something more.
"I'm not really into musicals, but I grew up watching that particular one — it was at my grandma's house and I would watch it when I was a kid, and so the character was, like, kind of in me," Holter says. "It's a really easy character to, like, relate to, I suppose: someone that just wants to do their own thing."
The new album Loud City Song projects that sentiment onto present-day Los Angeles, the city Julia Holter calls home. Holter spoke with NPR's Jacki Lyden about the appeal of overlaying her favorite stories with a modern vision. Click the audio link to hear more of their conversation.
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